As Paramount Pictures readies the May 8 release of its "Star Trek" franchise relaunch, the studio is moving forward with a sequel, and has hired Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof to pen the screenplay.

J.J. Abrams, who directed and produced the latest chapter, is onboard to produce the follow-up alongside his Bad Robot partner Bryan Burk. No decision has been made yet on whether Abrams will return behind the camera for the sequel.

Orci, Kurtzman and Lindelof also are receiving producing credit on the sequel.

Story is still in the embryonic stage, but the trio are aiming to deliver their script to the Melrose studio by Christmas for what would likely be a summer 2011 release.

"There's obviously a lot of hubris involved in signing on to write a sequel of a movie that hasn't even come out yet," said Lindelof, co-creator with Abrams of ABC's "Lost" who produced the upcoming "Trek" but did not contribute to Orci and Kurtzman's screenplay. "But we're so excited about the first one that we wanted to proceed."

As for potential storylines, Kurtzman stressed that the writing team will wait to take a cue from fan reaction about which direction to go.

"Obviously we discussed ideas, but we are waiting to see how audiences respond next month," he said. "With a franchise rebirth, the first movie has to be about origin. But with a second, you have the opportunity to explore incredibly exciting things. We'll be ambitious about what we'll do."

Though Orci and Kurtzman have worked together as a writing team for more than 12 years, the duo has worked with Lindelof on only one screenplay: DreamWorks' "Cowboys and Aliens," which they are currently writing together.

Paramount has high hopes for the "Star Trek" relaunch, and is pulling out all the stops on the marketing front. Studio began a full-scale campaign six months before the film's May bow.

wow, is it just me or are studios planning sequels faster and faster before the first movie hits theaters nowadays. star trek 2 will probably be a pretty safe bet tho, considering how much money this one will likely make.

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As for potential storylines, Kurtzman stressed that the writing team will wait to take a cue from fan reaction about which direction to go.

"Obviously we discussed ideas, but we are waiting to see how audiences respond next month," he said. "With a franchise rebirth, the first movie has to be about origin. But with a second, you have the opportunity to explore incredibly exciting things.

i think he knows that, sounds like he meant with the borg being as overwhelming an enemy as they are, there should be a movie that doesn't just take place on the enterprise with a small handful of drones like first contact did, and instead on the EPIC scale that the borg as an enemy could be

Pre-Voyager watered down Borg please! None of this Quadrant Zero or whatever rebellion. None of the we can't beat this one species, please help us humans. I want the unstoppable Borg that first appeared when Q first sent the Enterprise to meet them.

Pre-Voyager watered down Borg please! None of this Quadrant Zero or whatever rebellion. None of the we can't beat this one species, please help us humans. I want the unstoppable Borg that first appeared when Q first sent the Enterprise to meet them.

i think he knows that, sounds like he meant with the borg being as overwhelming an enemy as they are, there should be a movie that doesn't just take place on the enterprise with a small handful of drones like first contact did, and instead on the EPIC scale that the borg as an enemy could be

Exactly - First Contact was the first Movie version of the Borg on the big screen.

I went in looking for an EPIC space battle, and got a 2 minute show down.

Tons of Good guys against one Borg cube? The situations should have been reversed.

The phrase the Borg say is, "Resistance is Futile" - this should have been the Next Generations "Wrath of Khan". We, the viewers, should have got the feeling that "Oh man, there is no stopping these guys!". Instead we got, "Oh fine, let's abandon ship. Guess I should have done that a long time ago."

wow, is it just me or are studios planning sequels faster and faster before the first movie hits theaters nowadays. star trek 2 will probably be a pretty safe bet tho, considering how much money this one will likely make.

Pretty soon they will be doing the sequel before doing the original movie...oh wait!

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